I have kept a couple of the Hormel Completes trays, make for nice tub for decaling, as well as holding parts and sub-assemblies. No lids though.
Along with the others, also keep wire and other little doo-dads.
Lot of nice ideas floating around, will keep in mind for future hoarding now that I have a 52 inch tool cabinet as my modeling station. Plenty of drawers.
The truth as I see it ;
Okay you are all Guilty !! What are you "Guilty " of ? ? Being commensurate model Building Fanatics , Myself included. And the true example of " Found Item " modeling ! How many times , in these very pages have I suggested this .You should see the large storage tub of “Crap” ( that’s what my landlady calls it ) I have collected .
What she doesn’t see though , is that " crap " going into a model until she asks , " How did you make that ? " Then I USED to have to explain , " Well , You remember that " Crap " I have ? She now donates to the "Crap " bucket . Gee , it’s nice when folks understand you have a vision . Well , a limited ( Very limited now ) budget doesn’t hurt either. T.B.
Baron;
Refer to my post in Reply .
Now , that said . You remember those applicators for Correction tape ? Very neat sci-fi type armed mounted crawlers . Also the widgets from anything desk related .
Even the Pegs from ready to assemble furniture can look , when painted various metallic shades , weird containers for a space freighter . Don’t forget Zip ties .
Don’t laugh ! They make fine replacement ladders ( stairs ) on models of indeterminate scale , even ships ! Because of the varying sizes they come in !
You talked about computer mouses . Did you know they make great scale Taxis for a sci - fi city scene , also with a little tweaking , great unknown deep sea creatures ! T.B.
We are in the process of getting ready to move to a 55+ community to DOWNSIZE. I’ve started to go through the workroom and get rid of “stuff” that I don’t need. Just today I pulled out a box and found it had all sizes and colors of medicine bottle caps. I use a couple of jumbo size caps from the extra large size plastic bottles of pretzels from BJs (6") as paint palletts. Since I use acrylic paints, they come off the cap extremely easy with a quick scrape of an xacto chisel blade. Figured I don’t need the small caps any more and they went in the trash. Also trashed about 1/2 a computer paper box of various sized wire. All the sports trophies that I’ve won over the years went in the can too. They bent the axle on the trash can. On the bright side, the curio cabinet that they were in is now targeted to be used in my new workroom, which is larger than the one I have now, in the new place. I’m sure I’ll find lots more “stuff” that will probably make the same trip to the trash can but there is a lot that will go with us to the new home and lots of more room to increase the amount of “stuff” in my collection.
Jim [cptn]
I travel a lot both for work and pleasure. I save the plastic key cards, use them for glue and paint palettes.
Drink a lot of crystal light save the little containers to hold parts
Have few friends that burn a lot of CDs and DVDs --I get their ‘mistakes’ use them for paint and glue palettes also
Walmart sells their brand of juice mix which comes a tall package that holds six packages. I save the containers and they perfectly hold my long q tips and my pipettes. Also the dollar store has a plastic box that holds q tips and cotton pads. I give the cotton pads to my wife and now I keep toothpicks in one compartment and q tips in others. Bob Gregory Ruining one kit at a time
At Wendy’s hamburger joints, they have little clear plastic cups for ketchup, at the condiment table. These are great for mixing and thinning paints, and the price is right!
Empty prescription bottles are great for saving small parts. The plastic markers/stirrers that Starbucks puts in the drink slot of your coffee cups make great paint stirrers or applicators for glue or putty. Micro-reaction plates from the chem lab are great for mixing paint, etc…
I drink a powdered lemonade mix, and it used to come in those cups (I have a fair collection), but they have switched and now use an aluminized plastic bag for the powder. I need to find a new source of them- just don’t get to fast food joints enough.
I still do this.
I will stretch some sprue and cut it off close to the un-stretched part to use as a CA applicator.
Guys!!! I can’t beleive you’re allowing yourselves to lose money every time ya’ll post these little words of wisdom!! [:S] [:(((]
Doncha know you get MONEY [2cnts] when you submit these to the magazine??? That’s cash you can spend on your hobby!!!
Seriously, though, these are great tips. I myself keep all the blister packs that gum comes in (and anything else that has them) to mix small amounts of paint in, mix 2-part epoxy, etc. I usually use a thumbnail to get the foil started, then peel the foil away from whatever product I bought, which keeps me from crushing the plastic blister. I probably have thousands of these things now (which shows you just how little modeling I’m getting done lately…).
I (actually SWMBO) save the metal ends to frozen concentrated juice. It’s a great pallette for super glue and putty.
And, as someone else mentioned, I also save contact lens holders to use for oil paints, washes, white glue, and small color mixes.
Doug
[dto:]…I always grab a dozen or so at the McD’s. That’s about the only thing I ever really grab, with any regularity, for modeling.
Yeah, but McD’s are paper. If you go to Wendy’s, you can get the good plastic ones! Same price! [;)]
Chick fillet has alcohol finger wipes. I use them for model cleanup prior to painting. Five guys has plastic condiment cups along with good burgers and fries. Bob Gregory Ruining one kit at a time.
MOST McD’s have the paper ones…the one that is close by has the plastic ones. It’s about as “upitty” a McD’s as I have ever seen!
Yes! I have a bunch of sample credit cards and membership cards from my junk mail. I save them for similar use, mostly for use as palettes to mix up 2-part epoxy glue. Many of those dummy cards used to be plastic and served as an additional source of plastic card stock, but today, most of them are a cardboard core with a thin coating of plastic.
Speaking of CDs, back in the day, AOL and other ISPs used to send discs in flat metal tins. The discs were for people to use to go online and sign up. I have a stack of those tins, and use them for tool storage. For example, I keep my Flex-i-File set in one. In another, I keep my punch and die set from MicroMark. I give the tin a coat of solid color using a Rustoleum or Krylon paint.
I have a friend who uses old CDs for painting palettes. Since I have a ceramic palette, I just accumulate the discs. I’ve thought of making a mobile with them, or maybe also decorating a Christmas tree with only old CDs.
Blister packs are a good source of clear plastic stock for windows or for vacuforming or even smash-molding clear parts, too.
The upshot is, never throw anything out! In future posts, when I refer to “being Dutchy”, you will get my meaning. That’s what we call it around here. “You never know when you’ll need that…”